How many times have we been told "They will all go up for ever."????
Investor backs off Internet stock buys
Former money manager says only 10% of companies will last
By Tim Quinson
Bloomberg News
BOSTON -- Michael Price, whose eye for bargain stocks made him one of the best money managers of the past 20 years, won't even consider buying an Internet stock.
"Just one of every 10 Internet companies will still be in business in five years," said Price, 47, who stopped running mutual funds last November to manage his personal fortune.
Price, who tries to buy stocks that are cheap in comparison with their companies' profits and net worth, said the prices of Internet shares "are through the roof."
No doubt. America Online Inc., the benchmark Internet stock, trades at 33 times this fiscal year's revenue estimate of $4 billion. America Online shares look almost cheap compared with other high-flying Internet stocks such as Yahoo! Inc., which trades at 82 times revenue, and At Home Corp., which trades at more than 111 times revenue.
"These companies probably have the critical mass to succeed, but many of the stocks we'll buy don't even trade at one times revenue," said Price, who still is chairman of Franklin Mutual Advisors Inc., where he made his mark.
Price and other renowned investors such as Warren Buffett, chairman of Berkshire Hathaway Inc., and John Neff, who manages his own money and part of an endowment for Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, are willingly missing the Internet craze that's earning huge returns for almost anyone who owns the stocks.(cont.)
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